A Blog to Make You Smile

 We haven't done a blog about Mexico in a while and I think, at this juncture, we all need something to smile about.  So here goes.  The Lake Chapala Society (LCS) in our pueblo of Ajijic has been running a Children's Art Program for 60 years.  From this program, scores of artists have been developed -- some now have world - wide reputations.  In addition to weekly classes throughout the year, each summer, LCS sponsors a week long arts camp on their campus. This year almost 200 children enjoyed the program.  The teachers are a mix of gringos and Mexicans  and the children range from preschool thru teenagers. There is no charge for the camp and at the end the kids can sell their projects at a sale which is always very popular. The current Board and Board President of LCS along with the Director of Education have worked hard over the last several years to enhance and expand the program to deliver more different classes to more students.  Today classes span from drawing and painting to ceramics and papier mache (cartoniera en Español) to crocheting and embroidery and more.  Take a look at these photos and just enjoy watching kids enjoying their creativity.

These young children were working with water colors.

This group was working on papier mache.

This was the younger group in the photo program, using their cell phones. The taller one in the back is Esteban (who participated in the Programa de Fotografía Juvenil sessions earlier) who is helping with the younger children. The younger one with the cell phone is also Esteban. 

A sketching session in progress.

A close up of the sketch used for instructing.

It was amazing to see the concentration for two hours without pause.

This was a group learning crocheting.

These children were working on textile arts.

These children were working on embroidery.

Alicia, one of the bilingual photo instructors was very creative in keeping the young children engaged. She set up this Bingo photography card with a different type of photograph in each block, which the children had to complete each of the blocks.

Some of the children's art work was displayed during the week and on Saturday the children sold their art work at an art fair and received 100% of the proceeds from the sale of their work.

This young man was very focused on his drawing.

This was one of the linotypes completed in another group of children.

Their were instructors in each specialty to give the children guidance.

The ceramics group had a number of creative children...

and here this young girl is displaying her finished product before firing and painting.

Octavio was the expert in instructing the children in papier mache (cartoniera).

This young boy was admiring some of the completed works which were drying prior to being painted.

This young man created an easel to help him paint more easily.

Depending on their interest, there were so many different types of art which the children could engage in during the week...

including cartoons.

It was great to see a campus, which normally only had a much older population, filled with young children.

Some of the children in the photo program posed for a publicity photo with the instructors, Alicia (on the left) and Sandy (on the right) and Esteban, the assistant next to Sandy.

These two young girls were intently reviewing the bingo card and checking their cell phones to see if they captured all the necessary images.

Here Sandy is giving guidance to one of youths in the program. Sandy instructed the youths from 12 to 18 years old and Alicia instructed the children from 9 to 12 years of age.

Each day LCS provided a lunch for all of the children during the entire week.

An example of one of the finished embroidery pieces.

Some finished cartoniera drying.

One of the young children, Esteban, who was 11 years old did not seem to be very engaged. Esteban is bilingual. To get Esteban engaged I gave him my Nikon Coolpix 900 camera, which has an amazing telephoto capability. The next five photos were all taken by Esteban, who now wants to be part of the next Programa de Fotografía Juvenil session.

These are pictures of the Danza de los Voladores, a ritual that started in Central Mexico among the Nahua, Huastec and Otomi peoples and is still practiced today.

The children and all three assistants posed with some of the voladores for their photo.

Esteban was able to capture these monk parrots with the telephoto capabilities of the camera.

One of the creative figures made by one of the children from cartoniera.